Washing-machine



(No Model.) 2Shets-Sheet 1.

L. B. PETTIT.

WASHING MACHINE. No. 541,677. Patented June 25, 1895.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEVI B. PETTIT, OF BRIDGETON, NEYV JERSEY.

WASHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 541,677, dated June 25, 1895.

Application filed December 14, 1894. Serial No. 531,787. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEVI B. PETTIT, of Bridgeton, in the county ofv Cumberland and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Washing-Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in washing machines; and the object of my invention is to produce a cheap and simple machine which, when operated, has a movement very similar to that involved in rubbing clothes by hand on a washboard, which is provided with a rubber adapted to firmly clutch the clothes to be washed but in such a way as to hold them without injury, which is adapted to wash clothes very rapidly, which has a convenient rack to hold the clothes either before or after they are Washed, and which in general is adapted to greatly facilitate the thorough and rapid washing of clothes.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features ofconstruction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved washing machine, showing the rack pulled out ready for use. Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2 20f Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the machine with the covers removed.

The machine is provided with a suitable tub 10, which is preferably rectangular in shape and is mounted on legs 11. The tub has at the top and near one end a soap tray 12 and is provided with removable covers 13 which are held in place by buttons 14 or equivalent fastenings and which are provided with handles 15 by which they may be conveniently lifted and removed from the tub.

The machine is filled from the top and the suds are drawn out through a hole in one end of the tub near the bottom, which hole is kept closed by a plug 16, and beneath the hole is anordinary spout 17 for the suds.

In the tub is the concaved and nearly semicylindrical rubbing board, which is separable in the middle so that it may be easily removed when desired, and each end portion of the rubbing board consists of the triangular brackets 18 which are adapted to rest on the tub bottom, at opposite sides thereof, and the cross slats 19 which are fastened to the brackets. As illustrated the cross slats are rectangular in cross section, but they may be of any other approved shape.

One of the covers 13 is provided on its inner edge and near the center of the tub with a socket 20, in which is held a ball 21, and extending vertically through the ball so as to slide freely up and down therein is the handle shank 22 of the rubber 24:, which shank is preferably provided at the top with a suitable handle 23. The rubber 24 is secured to the lower end of the shank and is provided with a series of pegs 25 which preferably diverge downward, and these pegs are adapted to engage the clothes in the tub and hold them so that when the rubber is oscillated the clothes will be rubbed between it and the rubbing board.

On the tub bottomis a sliding rack, formed of the side rails 26 and the cross slats 27, which rack rests on guides 28 beneath the tub bottom, and the rack may be pulled out to the position shown in Fig. 1 to enable it to support clothes either before or after they are washed, or the rack may be pushed beneath the tub, as shown in Fig. 3, to get it out of the way. At the outer end of the rack are swinging legs 29 which are connected to the rack.by hinges 30, and when the rack is pulled out, these legs may be dropped to the floor so as to prevent the rack from breaking down under a heavy load. If desired a hasp 31 or other catch maybe used to hold the legs up when the rack is pushed in, as shown in Fig. 3.

As a matter of convenience the tub is provided with handles 10 at the ends by which it may be moved about.

When the machine is to be used for washing, the rack is drawn out, as shown in Fig. 1, to enable clothes to be piled on it, one of the covers 13 is removed, the tub is partially filled with suds, the clothes to be washed are placed in the tub, the cover put back in place, and then the operator grasps the handle 23 s'wings the shank 22 so as to bring the ro-bher 2& into engagement with the clothes, after which the shank is oscillated backward and forward, causing the rubber to swing from one end of the rubbing board to the other and the clothes are thoroughly scrubbed and washed. The rubber may be shifted from time to time to enable it to get a grip on the clothes in a new place, and it will be seen that by properly manipulating the shank 22 the rubber may be guided to any part of the.

tub and the clothes may be very easily handled and thoroughly Washed.

The clothes may be removedbytakingofi one of the covers 13 and the suds may be drawn out by pulling out the plug 16, while if the tub is to be cleaned and dried, the

stantially as described.

LEVI B. PET-TIT.

Witnesses:

J. F. LUMMIS, J. OGDEN BURT. 

